Value Unleashed

Articles - May 2019

This past year was an active one for Canadian dealmakers, with a near 10% uptick in the number of reported M&A transactions compared to 2016. Which provinces were responsible for this surge in activity? The answer might surprise you. We explore this and other themes as we take a closer look at Canadian M&A announced deal activity for 2017.

Your typical source of finance literature would tell you that the standard holding period for a private equity investment is between three and five years. However, this theory has been contested lately, most notably by a PitchBook article positing that the 2017 year-to-date average holding period in the U.S. is 6.17 years.

In this week’s article, we aim to discuss whether prolonged holding periods have become the “new normal” and examine whether there has been a fundamental shift in the private equity landscape. We also interviewed Michael O’Neill, Director at Stone Arch Capital, who offered some of his insights from the perspective of an industry practitioner.

There are creative ways to provide financing to your business beyond traditional bank loans and real estate mortgages. In owning real estate, many business owners are sitting on a potentially undervalued asset that could provide much-needed liquidity to their companies. With the significant increase in value of commercial and industrial real estate over the past decade, the value of these assets is often much higher in the hands of specialized real estate investors than in the hands of business owners.